“Market Urbanism” refers to the synthesis of classical liberal economics and ethics (market), with an appreciation of the urban way of life and its benefits to society (urbanism). We advocate for the emergence of bottom up solutions to urban issues, as opposed to ones imposed from the top down.

About Stephen Smith

I graduated Spring 2010 from Georgetown undergrad, with an entirely unrelated and highly regrettable major that might have made a little more sense if I actually wanted to become an international trade lawyer, but which alas seems good for little else.

I spoke to George Haikalis (trust me, he's a lot smarter than his HTML looks), a regional planner and former NYCTA official, about the high cost of New York City transit. He had a message to the press and academia:
Part of the problem is that we don't really have a very strong independent technical … [Read more...]

First order of business: I wrote two articles for Bloomberg View (the opinion counterpart to Bloomberg News) on the high cost of US transit – one on private-sector gouging, and one on public-sector gouging.Secondly, I've been talking to former Amtrak president David Gunn a lot recently – at … [Read more...]

Server glitch wiped the last few articles, so here's a repose of the Barcelona one. Also, comments should be working now, should you deign to leave one...Somehow I managed to visit Barcelona a few years ago and not learn about the history of the city’s Eixample (x pronounced sh in Catalan), or … [Read more...]

A few things.First of all, the New York Times in 1992 on the postmodern skyline blight that is the Sony Building (then still the AT&T Building):
This proposal marks the latest instance in which landlords have tried to recreate ill-conceived or little-used arcades and plazas, which generated … [Read more...]

The rehabilitation of the postwar glazed white brick apartment building continues apace, with the condoization of 530 Park Ave., a 1941 (okay, almost postwar) 19-story white brick building. I happen to like New York's postwar white brick buildings, and am even warming up to the red brick variants – … [Read more...]

If you've been following me on Twitter, you'll know that I spent this afternoon on the phone with folks in California, looking into the recent SNCF-CHSRA bombshell. To summarize: SNCF, the highly experienced French national high-speed rail operator, apparently had a plan for California's HSR … [Read more...]

So this weekend we learned that condos are bizarre and pretty much guaranteed to cause problems in the longrun, when maintenance bills skyrocket, the buildings are out of date, and the land beneath them appreciates, but you can't redevelop the property because all the owners will never agree.You … [Read more...]

It sounds like a dumb question – they exist because people like the security of owning a home combined with the services and lower costs that apartments offer, duh! But upon further reflection, condominium-style tenure can be a bit problematic.The main problem, as I see it, is that a building … [Read more...]